


The Dock

by FBIEpidemic



Category: New Amsterdam (TV 2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 22:18:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16795834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FBIEpidemic/pseuds/FBIEpidemic
Summary: Max's daughter was born the day that he died.





	The Dock

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all want to talk about how shook that ending got Max. Deadass, the minute I started this show I knew I was going to love the absolute dumbass that is Max Goodwin but like that ending. Bruh, that shit ain't fair. This show is like Grey's when it was good.

She's a hard person to love.

Impossible at times.

She's hard headed and mean. 

It's why she has no friends.

Correction, it's why she has one friend.

“That goes against his wishes.” Sharpe stands at the foot of Max's bed. Her arms crossed and her tone flat, she's protecting them all.

Max gets what he wants, Georgia can understand the words that the doctors throw at her and that baby? That baby is going to be held by his or her father. Even if it's the last thing that she or Max does.

The doctor makes a noise in the back of his throat. He's agitated. His arms crossed tight across his chest. His face tight.

Good. Max would want it this way. A good, fair fight.

“He could die.”

Sharpe shakes her head. She knows that. She's got a degree too and so does Max. But degrees won't make the facts go away. “He is aware of the statistics. He is a doctor.”

The other man has to refrain from adding ‘a dumb one’ at that. He hardly manages. Instead, he just drums his fingers against his bicep. Thinking. “He's no longer a candidate for experimental trial he wanted.”

Sharpe sighs. She hadn't thought of that. “Yes, which is why I am not making any decisions about his treatment.”

A flash of something that doesn't look like defeat crosses the doctor's eyes. “Exactly. You won't be. Mrs. Goodwin can make the decision.”

They lock eyes. A battle of wits. Who can get to Georgia first?

Sharpe already knows she's lost. 

Georgia may trust her more but Max looks like he's dead. He's dying right before their eyes and trust between your husband's coworker can only go so far. 

“It'll save him?” Georgia is facing her own health risks. The baby is trying to come out. Georgia may have smiled when she said it but there were tears twinkling in her eyes when she softly admitted _“Maybe she knows… did you know she knows his voice? She gets so excited… I just, I can't help but feel that the fight is over and we didn't even get a chance…_

Sharpe glances at the doctor. He looks uncertain. That makes him weak. “No. It very well may not. It could kill him. It can take his voice or leave him on a respirator for the rest of his life. Or it makes him healthy enough that he pulls through.”

Georgia looks to the doctor, Sharpe has lost her. “He could hold our baby? He could live?”

The doctor nods. 

Sharpe looks away.

Her eyes rise slowly to Max. His head is tilted to the side, he hasn't moved it since they brought him in the room switched the ventilator on. 

Now, the machines are all of the noise. There is no occasional choked breath from a deep slumber. No sleepy grins from drugs. Nothing. Max is unresponsive, unable to breathe on his own, and has a failing heart ticking away in his chest. Not to mention a baby fighting its way- wait.

“Georgia?” Sharpe cuts the doctor off. “You called your baby a girl. You're having a little girl.” There are tears in her eyes, God Max would be so happy. So excited to tell everyone. “Don't you want that baby girl to know her daddy? Don't you want Max to hold her?”

Georgia's hand reflexively goes to her stomach. Sharpe smiles, she is going to win this round. “Then, I need you to trust me. Let me do the radiation. It'll shrink the tumor. He might be back by two weeks tops. It was our original plan.”

She refrains from smiling when Georgia looks to Max. 

“Can we do the radiation? I just… I want the radiation.”

The radiation is brutal. 

When Max comes back, it almost seems like he's less full of life. His chest moves less. His fingertips are purple. His cheeks are sunk in. 

Sharpe has killed him.

Her decision. Her manipulation. Max's death.

“Another round of epi!” 

Georgia is in the hall. Swarms of nurses come in and out. The panic is drying down. Three sweat soaked residents stand around them as the newest recruit counts out chest compressions.

“I think it's time…” 

Sharpe tries to protest but someone is already moving to hold her back.

Someone screams. It sounds like a wounded animal. Brutal and sharp another follows. 

The arms across her chest keep her from running to his side. Stops her from saving Max.

Someone calls his name and a needle pierced her exposed flesh. The nurse smiling sadly eases her to the ground. 

Someone chants his name.

Sharpe can hear them shout something just as her eyes shut and she finally recognizes the broken voice. 

“Max,” his name is the last thing from her lips as she falls into a fitful sleep.

Erin Goodwin was born the day her father died.

She was held for the first time by her frantic mother. A woman broken and alone with a newborn baby to care for.

A nurse ran down a list. Preparing them both for things that would need to be done in the upcoming days. 

Georgia heard almost none of it. She was captured by the little eyes looking up at her. Her husband's eyes. They never tell you how much your kids will look like you. 

“Happy Birthday, squirt.” Iggy puts a heavy hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before following his husband to the picnic and food. The dock becomes silent again.

She doesn’t like the dock. She doesn’t like all the water, the silence. She doesn't like the way her mother hovers around full of nervous tension.

“Dad?” Her hand goes to her chest, taking a step back away from the man. He walks silently. At times, he walks as silent as a ghost. She should be used to it after eighteen years. Clearly, he’s still as weird and deadly as usually.

“Happy Birthday.” 

It takes her brain a moment to go from speaking to ASL. She’s been cramming all week, with her Calc final in three days, college applications, and an AP tests all next week she’s had such little time to actually talk to her dad. And although she knows ASL as well as she knows her middle name, her brain can’t seem to translate some of her thoughts.

“Thank you.”

He puts his hands in his pockets as he thinks before pulling them back out and asking,” why do you ask to come here if you don’t like it?”

She grits her teeth. He doesn’t want the truth. He’s a man of the truth, she knows that. It’s how he raised her but right now, he does not want the truth. So instead she asks,” why do sign if you can hear me and you can speak?”

He raises his eyebrows, he does that instead compliment her on an argument well played. He’s funny like that. He friends tell her that she’s lucky. That their parents would tell them not to be a smartass but not Max. No, he always admits his losses. 

The answer isn’t that complicated. In fact, she knows the exact reason. Her father didn’t lose his hearing because of the radiation. Not even because of the little bit of brain damage that they all make fun of. He suffered light damage, just enough to make him worried about more damage in the future. So, they all learned ASL.

Kinda pointless but he was sure it would be important. It’s just their family. Chaotic and weird.

“Well,” his voice is raspy, not from disuse but just because he’s got a raspy kinda voice. It’s kinda scary sometimes, he really could be a scary dad when she was younger. “Go get some cake or something.” He motions with his head in the direction of her mother. 

She nods and really is making her way from the dock when she stops.

“He’s an interesting man, isn’t he?” Sharpe smiles at her, looking between the back of her father and her. 

She smiles, nods, and keeps going. Mumbling under her breath,” yeah, God he’s weird.”

But at least it all worked out in the end. Whatever that means.


End file.
